Steve Manitta remembers the moment he knew he recruited the
right goalie around which to build the new Mercy (N.Y.) College
men's lacrosse program.

It was in April 2010. The Mavericks traveled to St. Anselm
(N.H.) for a late non-conference game. It looked like a reasonable
matchup when it was scheduled, but St. Anselm had lost by just one
goal to NYIT earlier in the season and at the time rode a four-game
winning streak.

"I just thought to myself, 'Oh, man. There's no rest for the
wicked,'" Manitta said.

Despite being outshot and dominated on faceoffs (2-for-23),
Mercy and St. Anselm were tied late in the fourth quarter. T.J.
DiCarlo was spectacular under siege, making 27 saves. As happened
often in that first season, a bungled clear by the Mavericks led to
a 3-on-1 break the other way with time winding down.

"T.J. was on one pipe, and there was a quick pass to the far
pipe, and it looked like the kid was just going to dunk it,"
Manitta said. "By the time the kid caught it, the ball was already
out of his stick heading toward the goal. T.J. leaped across the
goal and made an unbelievable save from his backside. After that,
it was over. We knew that we weren't going to lose the game. That
was the day."

DiCarlo made two more saves in overtime, as Mercy won 10-9. It
was a seminal moment for the goalkeeper and the program, but that
first year wasn't always fun for DiCarlo. Playing in the
hyper-competitive East Coast Conference, he got peppered, including
five games in which he had to make at least 17 saves.

"No goalie likes to see 50 shots a game," DiCarlo said. "I went
to bed shell-shocked a lot of nights my freshman year."

Shell-shocked, but he was ready for the next challenge. That's
why Manitta targeted DiCarlo as a critical recruit coming out of
Farmingdale (N.Y.) High. The coach needed someone who had the
confidence to use his first year as a way to get better and not
succumb to the inevitable lopsided losses.

"We knew that when we were building this program we were going
to need a goalie who was mature enough to handle the pressure and
could stand in there every day against some of the best kids in the
country in the ECC," Manitta said. "The reps he was seeing turned
him into a better player. He never seemed to really get frustrated.
That's why he is the player he is: he always has a steady head
about himself."

DiCarlo's personality dictates that he won't get frustrated at
his defense if it makes a mistake, but the culture of the team
prevents him from doing so even if he had the urge.

"They know that stuff and they will say to me, 'I messed up,' so
there was no need to get in their face," he said.

That's not to question DiCarlo's competitiveness. He just saves
his voice for the intra-squad scrimmages.

"If the offense is doing well in practice, they'll make sure
they let him know about it," Manitta said. "More times than most,
when we're clicking and we're making an 80 or 90-percent shot, and
T.J. is stoning kids, he lets us know about it, too. It goes both
ways and it makes us better. Offensively, it's a blessing that we
get to shoot on the best goalie in the nation every day, but
sometimes it's a curse, because some days we can't get much
accomplished."

Said DiCarlo: "I want my numbers higher and their numbers lower.
The competition is always there."

DiCarlo, who was named the USILA Goalie of the Year after an
outstanding sophomore season (7.58 goals against average, .636 save
percentage) in 2011, pushes his teammates to succeed in front of
him. "He'd like to see everyone successful, because he knows it
will benefit him," Manitta said.

The competition only will get stiffer for Mercy. The Mavericks
were 5-10 (3-7 ECC) in their inaugural season in 2010. They
improved to 11-3 (7-3 ECC) in 2011, including a win over NYIT and
narrow losses to C.W. Post and eventual NCAA champion Mercyhurst.
They are no longer considered an easy win but rather legitimate
competitors for one of the four NCAA tournament bids in Division
II. (The field will expand to eight teams in 2013.)

With that comes the bull's-eye.

"Everyone will want to stick it right back to us," DiCarlo said.
"People want to get us back. People were very upset that we came
down to their house and beat them."

A third-year program doesn't flirt with playoff expectations
unless it has the right man tending net. DiCarlo no longer goes to
bed shell-shocked. He's the best goalie in Division II and seems
prepared for the next challenge — to lead Mercy to its
first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

This article appears in the February issue
of Lacrosse Magazine, the flagship publication of US Lacrosse.
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